President Barack Obama tapped federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court on Tuesday, officials said, making her the first Hispanic in history picked to wear the robes of a justice.

If confirmed by the Senate, Sotomayor, 54, would succeed retiring Justice David Souter. Two officials described Obama's decision on condition of anonymity because no formal announcement had been made.

Administration officials say Sotomayor would bring more judicial experience to the Supreme Court than any justice confirmed in the past 70 years.

A formal announcement was expected at midmorning.

Obama had said publicly he wanted a justice who combined intellect and empathy--the ability to understand the troubles of everyday Americans.

Democrats hold a large majority in the Senate, and barring the unexpected, Sotomayor's confirmation should be assured.

If approved, she would join Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg as the second woman on the current court.

Sotomayor is a self-described "Newyorkrican" who grew up in a Bronx housing project after her parents moved to New York from Puerto Rico. She has dealt with diabetes since age 8 and lost her father at age 9, growing up under the care of her mother in humble surroundings. As a girl, inspired by the Perry Mason television show, she knew she wanted to be a judge.

The political spin added by the press to the Sotomayor nomination seems to be: Republicans can't oppose her because she is Hispanic -- if they do, they are RAAAAAAACISTS!!

But remember this embarrassing little memo from Nov. 2001, sent by the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee (Ted Kennedy) to Sen. Dick Durbin:

"The groups singled out three--Jeffrey Sutton (6th Circuit); Priscilla Owen (5th Circuit); and Caroline [sic] Kuhl (9th Circuit)--as a potential nominee for a contentious hearing early next year, with a [sic] eye toward voting him or her down in Committee. They also identified Miguel Estrada (D.C. Circuit) as especially dangerous, because he has a minimal paper trail, he is Latino, and the White House seems to be grooming him for a Supreme Court appointment. They want to hold Estrada off as long as possible."

I wonder if anyone in the mainstream press will dare bring up this incredible example of racism by Senate Democrats, when the "wrong" Hispanic was a potential nominee for the SCOTUS?

Much of what Sotomayor says ("I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male..." etc.) can be taken out of context in order to appear very radical, but the bulk of her comments seem to stem more from a postmodern intellectual's desire to question everything and then posit one's own answers, rather than an out-of-control social justice agenda.

Still, it is unsettling to consider a future Supreme Court where the worldview and life experience of a Justice is expected to be placed on equal footing with the rule of law. The potential for abuse in such a system is staggering.

Kim adds: In spite of her vast experience and impressive education, there is one very big reason why she should not be confirmed, and that is she outed herself as an activist judge. She was caught on tape saying that policy is made at the appeals court level. She immediately backtracked from her statement once she realized what she let slip, but it was there for everyone to see and hear:

As usual for the left, Sotomayor's rulings are unbounded by common sense, but long on activism.

In 1998 the Family Research Council named Sotomayor as the recipient of its Court Jester Award, mocking her decision to extend the application of the Americans With Disabilities Act to a woman who had cited her own inability to read as the "handicap" that caused her to fail the New York State bar exam several times.

Obamalala must have wanted a sister growing up. This nominee comes as close as he could get. His statement this morning at the WH is pure liberal crap as it applies to selection of candidates for the SCOTUS. I can't wait to see her opinions. After all Obamalala said, "She saved baseball!"

It is about time U.S. citizen Latinos had representation at the highest level of the U.S. justice system. To the majority who like to call themselves White Conservative America.-We were good enough help you fight the British in the Southern Colonies, we were good enough to pick your crops and cut your sugar cane in the 1800's, we were good enough to clean after you and work your factories in the 1900's, we have been good enough to be grunts in your Army and Marine Corps since 1917 and we are good enough to be firefighters and policemen in your cities now. It is thus embarrassingly appropriate that we have proportionate representation at the highest court bench of the nation, bigotry nonwithstanding.

As usual you make a total jackass of yourself. Opposing this pick for political or philosophical reasons is perfectly legitimate. But to argue she does not have ability/experience/brains is moronic at best. But then that's you.

UD, do you think they vetted any male or any female that was not hispanic? You are delusional at best. Kind of like when Sandra O'Connor retired, the left said immediately the replacement should be female. My friend, it is your party that looks to race first. You. ww

I don't care how long she's been in practice or on the bench or where she went to school. I'm very concerned that she might really believe that appellate courts make policy or that she's a better judge than white men because of her race and gender. These are dangerous concepts for a judge to hold.

Posted by jomo | May 26, 2009 10:35 AM, "It is about time U.S. citizen Latinos had representation at the highest level of the U.S. justice system."... Your statement is racist. The US justice system is supposed to be blind to race, gender, creed, etc. The US justice system is supposed to be based upon the actual law of the land, not race, gender, creed, etc. Perhaps you should leave this country and take the racist, sexist Sotomayor with you.

What is interesting to me is that President Obama had four people on his short list, all females. It appears that being a women was one of his 'requirements' for filling the vacancy. So much for looking for the most qualified person. I guess justice isn't blind anymore.

He wants a fight and he wants it now to distract from his other machinations. No surprise here. He knows she is the most likely to draw flak, and both sides will lose with all the race and sex baiting that will happen, distracting from her record, which is the real issue. If she runs the gauntlet, she'll be ready to apply another nail in the coffin of our Constitution. If she loses, he has several other potential nominees already in the wings. Win WIn for him.

Meanwhile the deficit climbs and socialized medicine is being designed.

I'd sit back and enjoy some popcorn if I wasn't busy fortifying my position and caring for my family in the hard times to come.

The statue depicting Justice wearing a blindfold and holding the scales is meant to portray a judicial ideal of impartiality and truth.

I feel relatively certain "jomo" does not know of the existence of said stature nor give one wit about "impartiality and truth."

Be honest "jomo," just admit openly you'd be very much in favor of reparations be paid - monetarily or policy wise - in similar fashion to what some race-bating African Americans desire for centuries-old policies of discrimination.

In related news, Obama has has issued an executive order that all statues and pictures of Lady Justice be destroyed and replaced with his new model that has no blindfold and a finger placed on the scale.

What a surprise: the nation's biggest affirmative action hire makes an affirmative action selection. Liberals cannot accept an equal-opportunity country, so they build a list of SCOTUS selections that is obviously weighted toward a certain demographic.

The video should be replayed several times a day. Several things are obvious:

1. This idiot either doesn't understand what her job is, or she simply doesn't like the restrictions of the job. She doesn't want to be a judge, she wants to be one of Plato's philosopher-kings, making the law as well as enforcing the law.
2. The lack of integrity on display is revolting. She's openly laughing at the need to hide her true intentions. After all, the peasants might prefer to have their elected officials making policy.
3. You also have to love the cowardice on display. She cannot and will not defend her position, so instead she'll just lie about her intentions and hope she doesn't get caught. And her audience laughs along and the thinly-disguised act that should be plenty good enough to fool the witless rubes.

"UD....yeah pal, kinda like the argument that a guy with a BA from Yale and a Harvard MBA was a 'stupid chimp'" -- ODA315

Say, you wouldn't happen to be referring to George "Is-our-children-learning-yet?" Bush, before he went prematurely senile, before he concluded that the best tning to do when confronted with a national emergency is to go on reading tales about pet goats?

"Yes you idiot he should have ran from the room wildly screaming orders before the Secret Service assessed exactly what the best course of action and place to take him for his protection" -- retired military

The Secret Service determines "the best course of action"???? Moron, who the [expletive deleted] is supposed to be in charge here, Bush or the Secret Service???? Does Bush's protection override the nation's protection? Yes, yes we both know that Bush is a chickenhawk, but this is taking it a bit too far, don't you think???

Moron, show us just how smart you are. Imagine yourself being the President of the United States, the Commander-in-Chief. Upon being informed that the nation is under attack by your Chief-of-Staff, would you:

A. Go right on reading for several minutes about the Pet Goat, gaining no information of any value at all, being completely incapable of determining anything better to do with your time,

Your right in one respect.. If BUSH would have dropped the book and trampled the toddlers on His way to the Pentagon or WTC... Im sure He could have caught a few AMERICANS and saved ....their...lives.........U fucking idiot

Gee what exactly could Bush have done right at that second to ensure the nation's safety? Intelligence agencies were gathering intelligence, the military was making decisions as to what their troops should be doing, and other agencies were following their contigency plans which is why they are called CONTIGENCY PLANS. THe worst thing that could have happened on 911 is for the President (be he Bush or Obama or whomever) to get killed as well.

Yes the SECRET SERVICE WAS DETERMING THE BEST WAYS TO PROTECT THE PRESIDENT. THAT IS THEIR NUMBER ONE JOB.

If the President gets killed there still has to be transfer of power. CHeney was doing exactly what the Secret Service told him to do.

As Bush was. As Obama would do in the same circumstances.

You really have no clue other than your frothing liberal mimes do you.

a. Was Marine one on the ground?

B. WHere was the motorcade to get him there?

C. What was the prep time for getting Air Force One off the ground.

D. Had the routes and alternate routes been checked from the school to Marine One/ Air Force One given the current situation.

E. Did the local law enforcmenet people have time to clear a route to the Marine One/ Air Force One?

F. Other than the plane hitting the building what information was available to Bush at the time?

G. How many other planes were involved, where were they, what other attacks might be taking place?

These are only a few of the thousands of details which had to be considered prior to it being considered safe to move Bush (or any President in a similar situation) from the school which was a secure location to elsewhere.

You dont want to look at the logic of the situation. You just want to go off on a Bush bashing frothing tangent and not even try to think with a clear rational mind. Typical leftie.

Hammer,
You must be hat envious, calling other
commentors hat wearers when you've got
no argument.
As to GWH Bush, was he supposed to be
prescient as to what kind of judge
Sotomayor would turn to be in the
future? Shame on him.
/sarcasm

"These are only a few of the thousands of details which had to be considered prior to it being considered safe to move Bush (or any President in a similar situation) from the school which was a secure location to elsewhere." -- retired military

IDIOT, who said ANYTHING about Bush having to immediately go anywhere??? WELL???? Chimpy could have just had somebody turn on a nearby television or radio and gotten more info of value than from the stupid pet goat story, dammit!!!! He could have acquired a nearby cell phone, made calls, and gotten even more information about the crisis at hand. He could have conferred with his chief-of-staff. He needs information before he makes any decisions, and he's not going to be finding anything he needs in a stupid pet goat story!!!

Herman,
That's an awful big hole you shot
in your foot.
All of the above about accessing information
before Bush was moved was happening in the
background. Of course it would have delighted
the opposition if he had scared 10 years of
life out of the children when advised about
the ongoing attacks.

Thank you for explaining common sense to Herman. It is quite obvious he is willingly oblivous to things that happen in the real world.

Most likely the word that Bush got was that a plane had hit the World trade center. That was probably the extent of the information they had at the time.

I am quite certain there were probably several thousand flash messages being sent out within minutes of the plane hitting. For Herman a flash message is a message which is sent out IMMEDIATELY through channels on major events. Most likely it contained something along the lines of "plane hit the WTC for unknown reasons, possible terorist attack". I am quite certain that that is about the extent of the message that Bush got at that time. It is doubtful the news teams were even rolling at that time. If Bush had called his Chief of Staff or anyone else he would have been told no further details because there were no details to be had.

The people receiving those messages (most of them having stars on their shoulders) then send out appropriate messages dictating actions, etc. and start the intelligence gathering process.

In short, Herman, short of a message stating "Nuclear bomb went off in NY" then the appropriate thing for Bush to do is wait for the Secret Service to tell him that they are ready for him to move. At which point he would have gone and gotten an update which for 15 or so minutes after the attack would have not consisted of anything at all. I am quite certain the presidential limo has a TV in it along with numerous other data receiving capabilities.

Running around in a panic like Herman suggests would solve nothing other than giving the appearance of paniced President which the dems would have gladly used against Bush and repeated ad nauseum for hours on end instead of the pet goat story that they still repeat.

Again Herman, try looking at the real world and what really happened vs your liberal fantasy of events.

Oh and Herman, If someone needed to get information to Bush at that time they would have used the flash message route because that is the one that is set up to handle emergencies. All Bush would have done by calling people is interupting them from doing their jobs, their jobs being get the intelligence that he would have been asking for.

You really shouldnt comment on things you know nothing about.

Try looking up the acronym WWMCCS. Been there and done that for 4 years.

"Most likely it contained something along the lines of "plane hit the WTC for unknown reasons, possible terorist attack". I am quite certain that that is about the extent of the message that Bush got at that time. It is doubtful the news teams were even rolling at that time. If Bush had called his Chief of Staff or anyone else he would have been told no further details because there were no details to be had." -- retired military

"It is doubtful the news teams were even rolling at that time." -- retired military

Your stupidity just keeps going on and on!!! While in the classroom, Bush was informed that the SECOND plane had hit its target (by the way, he knew of the first hit before he got inside the classroom). Of course, the news teams were rolling at that time!!! Damn, you're dumb!!!

So Bush knew that there might well be people in need of being rescued. Should he call someone to see if he could help out with this??? After all, jumbo jets flying into buildings isn't something your local fire dept. deals with on a day-to-day basis. Nah, better to find out what happens to the pet goat.

"At which point he would have gone and gotten an update which for 15 or so minutes after the attack would have not consisted of anything at all." -- retired military

Bush had absolutely no idea how many planes had been hijacked. Heck, one could have been crashing into a major city every 30 seconds for all he knew. If this had been the case it would, of course, have been on the news, but not in the pet goat story which Chimpy couldn't tear himself away from. Heck, his own staff would have been continuing to tell of crashes, but Bushie would say (with your blessing) "Not now, I want to find out what happens to the goat!". At least one plane could have been on its way to try to destroy the Pentagon -- oh my gosh, one was! But that goat was just so dear to Moron King's heart.

Utterly incredibly, you ask a decent question: "How many other planes were involved, where were they, what other attacks might be taking place?" NOW HOW IN THE WORLD DOES BUSH COME ANY CLOSER TO FINDING ANY INFORMATION PERTAINING TO THIS BY SPENDING VALUABLE TIME READING ABOUT A PET GOAT????

Retired military, I've had about enough of dealing with your stupidity, defending the indefensible. THANKFULLY, you're not Commander-in-Chief. It's tragic you're so dumb.